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Will These New Features Help Relieve Your Smartphone Addiction?

To help screen addicts break the habit, Big Tech companies like Apple, Google and Facebook are finding new ways to warn of overuse

By

Rachel Jacoby Zoldan

Aug. 16, 2018 12:38 p.m. ET

STRINGENTLY STICKING to a juice cleanse might help you starve your way into those pants by the weekend, but come Monday, chances are you’ll gorge yourself and gain it all back, plus an extra pound or two. Same goes for so-called “digital detoxes”: Cutting yourself off from devices cold turkey can help you unplug in the short term, but with one notifying ding, your smartphone addiction could return in full force.

“There’s been a shift from being completely shut off to trying to limit online time,” said Michelle Evans, a consumer...